Ottawa Senators Need to Handle Logan Brown Very Carefully
By Ian Smith
The Ottawa Senators have high hopes regarding Logan Brown in the NHL, and with his entry-level deal being completed, he’s going to get to head to Senators’ training camp to see where he’s currently at as a player against that level of competition.
However, the reality is that he’s still probably at least a couple seasons away from getting an entrenched role with the team.
Today’s Slapshot had a great piece that analyzes Brown’s projected impact with the Senators in the near future.
He performed well enough at Senators’ development camp that the question started to arise as to whether he actually had a chance to make the NHL roster this season.
He’s got great size at 6’6’’, and his skating and passing skills are impressive. Plus he has solid defensive ability.
While he certainly projects as a top-6 forward down the line, there’s not much room on the depth chart for him at center right now.
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Kyle Turris and Derick Brassard are getting those top two spots, and Jean-Gabriel Pageau is coming off a career year and will likely settle in to that third line spot.
The 4th line center spot is a little less concrete. Curtis Lazar could see time there, but the team may opt to play him as a 3rd line right winger instead.
That leaves Chris Kelly as another option to play 4th line center, although he might also see time as the 4th line left winger.
If Ryan Dzingel, Matt Puempel, or Nick Paul doesn’t inspire enough confidence to lock down the 4th line left wing spot, Kelly could see time there.
That’s not even taking into consideration the health concerns that Kelly brings at his advanced age and missing most of last season with injury.
Basically that 4th line has a lot of question marks right now, and while Brown conceivably has a chance to crack the roster and get playing time on that 4th line, he should probably take more time to develop.
Even if he has the talent right now to put up better numbers at the NHL level than other 4th line options the team has, patience is a virtue in this situation.
Brown can continue to refine his game at a lower level before getting thrown to the sharks immediately.
Again, this is confined to the hypothetical that he totally amazes at training camp and the Senators feel compelled to give a roster spot to him.
Next: Ottawa Senators Sign Logan Brown to Entry-Level Deal
There’s no rush, and advancing Brown too quickly could end up stunting his growth on the ice. What’s clear is that the Senators might have a great player on their hands, and it’ll be important to set him up with the best chance possible to succeed.